February Read-a-thon Spotlights

Hi and welcome to the reading world!

Today’s post is going to be highlighting the 2 readathons I’ve been taking place in during the month of February! If you’re curious about my year long reading challenges, I’ll be updating on those in my monthly wrap up coming up next week.  

The month long readathon I’ve been participating in is Blackathon 2021, created by Bowties and Books! This readathon is so creatively designed to allow participants to join a platform and genre team of their choice- I’m on team Sci Fi/Fantasy on Bookstagram, led by Starlah Reads! 

For the past week or so I’ve also been participating in the Sapphic Readathon hosted by @ash_and_her_books which has been so fun!

For Blackathon 2021, I’ve been completing the following prompts:

Tade Thompson: A Black protagonist encounters an alien civilization or alien technology

For this prompt, I read Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor, the sequel to Binti. This novella built on the incredible world building and technological mysteries introduced in the first. I’m excited to finish the trilogy soon!

Octavia Butler: Time travel is a major component to the story

For this prompt, I’m actually currently reading Kindred by Octavia Butler. This is a challenging read but incredibly well written, and I’m interested to read more as I’ve only just gotten into the story.

Group book:

Another current read that I’ve been hearing incredible things about!

Rita Woods: A character traverses a realm or heavily embodies Black spirituality/spiritualism

For this one, I’m planning on picking up Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor. I’ve heard great things about this novella, and I’m excited to read more by Nnedi Okorafor.

For the Sapphic Readathon hosted by @ash_and_her_books on Bookstagram, I’ve been trying to complete the Bingo board! Be sure to check out Ash’s Bookstagram for the board and other fun components!

Group Read:

This is a novella in the Reluctant Royals series that is the read-a-thon group read. Overall, it was a fun read but not a favorite- I just wanted more from the story and think the first half was a little slow for the pacing of a novella.

Movie Adaptation:

I’m kind of stretching this prompt a little, but I’ll be using Utena to fulfill this prompt after getting the recommendation from Kye and seeing fellow b2weird member Joh had read it for the read-a-thon.

Manga:

You can repeat prompts for this readathon, so I’ll be using Utena for both!

BIPOC Author:

This book was incredible- a new favorite for sure and one that I took my time reading because I wasn’t ready for it to end. The complexities of relationships, identity, and sacrifice in this book are incredibly well written, and I definitely want to read Nicole Dennis-Benn’s other work as well.

New Author:

This is a 2021 debut that is actually out today! I’m currently reading it and enjoying getting to know Grace and Yuki as characters and see how the story unfolds.

Backlist Book:

I’ve been wanting to read a space opera, and this is one I’ve heard great things about and has a sequel releasing next week! This is one I’ve only just started so I’m curious to read more.

Author Not From Your Country:

See the previous adoring of this novel in the prompt above!

Enemies to Lovers:

This is a first novella in a series I’ve heard incredible things about and has a full length novel coming out this spring. I’ve really been enjoying series that feature novellas, and so this was one I enjoyed picking up and I’m excited to continue on!

So, there’s a sneak peek into the monthly reading challenges I’ve been participating in. I would definitely recommend checking these out- there’s still a little time to participate and there are fun posts and book recommendations to be found!

What have you been reading this month?

Thanks for stopping by!

-Rae